


Ghost of Krimson

by Rammsteiner



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Connelly Lived, Detectives doing actual detective stuff, I apologise for the title, I haven't decided yet, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, JoJo escaped, M/M, Mobius being their shady selves, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rating May Change, TEW2 Never Happened, and everyone is suffering, it's terrible but I can't think of anything else lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 08:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13163067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rammsteiner/pseuds/Rammsteiner
Summary: Three years after the events of Beacon, Sebastian and the other survivors still struggle with the traumatic after effects of the STEM experiment. When a string of grusome murders begin occuring in Krimson City, and with pressure to find the perpitrator mounting, Sebastian finds himself turning to the person he believed he'd killed three years ago.





	Ghost of Krimson

**Author's Note:**

> So this started out as a completley different idea, however somehow it turned into this.
> 
> Hope you enjoy whatever this will turn into.
> 
> Tumblr: Rammsteiner-Dazai

She was buried beneath the disused railway bridge in Northern Krimson. As cliché as it sounded, she had been found by the attuned nose of a dog whilst on, what was, a leisurely evening stroll with its owner. The woman was a young looking thing, looking barely over twenty five years. Dressed, from what Sebastian had seen from the fleeting glance he'd been able to make whilst on the scene, no signs of the perp in the surrounding area either. Honestly there wasn't really signs of anything other than the body itself. If the canine hadn't caught the scent of decay, perhaps she wouldn't have been found at all. If she didn't have a few centimetres of dirt and rubble covering her corpse, she could have simply dropped down dead. But no, she'd been quite obviously placed there. But why? Why was she buried with intention of being found, and not simply slung into the river off Randall's Crossing? Why did the killer want her be noticed? Why was this murder like so many as of late? Why was Krimson city turning into a psychopath’s paradise? Sebastian often thought he asked too many questions but then again he was a detective, asking questions came with the job description. The autopsy hadn't revealed anything that could point to something Sebastian hadn't already deduced for himself. Under twenty five, bruising around the neck, large laceration on the lower abdomen with uterus and ovaries removed. Searches of the area hadn't found any evidence of a weapon, blood or said missing organs. It was simply used to dump the woman after her _usefulness_ , to the perpetrator, had expired. The exact same circumstances six other females had been discovered in the last five months. What made it worse is the KCPD hadn't even been able to pinpoint a person of interest or even a witness. Let alone a solid suspect. It was beginning to take its toll on the entire precinct, Sebastian especially. Sighing into yet another pointless report, Sebastian tossed the papers haphazardly onto the ever increasing pile upon his desk. His eyes falling to the now empty mug of coffee which lay beside his desktop computer. A refill was certainly in order. But before he could even pick up the damn thing, a familiar face decided the moment to throw himself into Sebastian’s office was now.

"Chief wants to see you, something about the body found the other day." he virtually panted out. Sebastian cocked his eyebrow slightly at the sight of the officer almost doubled over on himself. If it was anyone else, he might have called for assistance.

"Been busy I see Oscar," Sebastian mocked which earned him a breathless laugh from Oscar, who invited himself inside after his lungs ceased trying to kill him.

“She’s had me running around after everybody and everything all day, and I thought the chopped up bodies were what we were supposed to be worrying about. Well that and...” Oscar was a little hesitant in continuing that statement for a few moments. Almost contemplating whether they were appropriate topic of conversation.

 “That and you know… Beacon.”

Beacon Mental Hospital, how Sebastian wishes he could forget about that horrific shit show. Officially the events, involving the apparently named group ‘Mobius’, ‘Ruben Victoriano’ and the hospital, never happened. Which was complete bullshit, it would have made national headlines if it was the higher ups escaping from chainsaw wielding mutants. After clashes with the psychologist the force had pushed down his throat, Sebastian decided it was best just denying everything in the end. He and Oscar both. Simple kidnapping was an easier file to sort compared with human experimentation anyway.

“Well, the body wasn’t completely chopped up. Like the last six haven’t been. You’ve been confusing your favourite J-Drama with work again.” Sebastian replied, trying to keep the conversation devoid of Beacon. Although a few years had passed since the incident, it was still something he was uncomfortable talking about. It was for all of the survivors really.

“Train to Busan is a Korean film, not a J-Drama,” Oscar almost sounded offended at the mix up, but the smirk on his face said otherwise as his bottom quickly found itself an empty space upon the sun-bleached wood of Sebastian’s desk. “Speaking of all things Japanese, how’s Joseph?”

Joseph didn’t really come up in discussion around the precinct anymore or if he did, it was only Oscar and Sebastian himself that ever spoke of him. Sebastian looked up toward Oscar, the expression of the other much more dispirited than it was mere moments ago. Probably because he already knew the answer to his question.

“Better than he was,” was the answer Sebastian gave every time Oscar asked of the former detective. Because it was the only one he could come up with to describe Joseph after he quite literally crawled back into his life. It was a rather vague phrase in itself in the first place, but this was amplified when it came to Joseph. Because Joseph’s ‘was’ could be anywhere from virtually catatonic to willingly having short conversations. So anything Joseph did could be considered ‘better than he was’. He was certainly better than when Sebastian had first found his partner, he’d been trapped in that hellhole of a machine far longer than he and Oscar had. So it wasn’t surprising he couldn’t tell reality from fiction. Who knew what he’d been through? What they’d done to him. What he’d seen. Because Sebastian sure as hell didn’t. He wouldn’t push Joseph to tell him either. He doesn't blame him either. He has been through much more than Sebastian had, and even Sebastian still slept with a gun under his pillow.

“Tell him I said hi. It gets lonely around here without him,” Oscar pushed himself off of the desk as Sebastian nodded, “Don’t forget. Chief gets pissy when you’re late, Seb.”

“If you stop talking I might just make it,” Sebastian called as Oscar took his leave.

_‘Thankyou Oscar, there went any chance of a coffee refill.’_

* * *

 

_'You need to catch the perpetrator of these murders Sebastian, it's gone on far too long,'_

_'Not even a possible suspect? I want something solid within the week otherwise we will have to speak again. Understand?'_

Sebastian repeated the words of the chief in his head over and over as he pulled up into his driveway. He was basically on his own, par Oscar and a couple other cops. How was he supposed to solve seven murders virtually on his own? Sure there were enough links between the victim’s bodies to ascertain that they were all killed by the same person, or group of people. But he was still stuck. He'd been doing this job for over 10 years for heaven’s sake, what the hell was wrong with him? He'd arrested countless criminals before, umpteen number of murders included. So why was this time so different? What had changed? Well, Sebastian didn't even need to think about that. A whole fucking lot had changed. Pulling the keys from the ignition, Sebastian stepped from the old jeep onto the driveway in front of his home. Maybe he could finally have that coffee his body craved for. Unlocking the door, Sebastian stepped inside and removed his shoes. Placing them just beside the mat that lay across the floor beneath the door.

"I'm back," Sebastian called through the seemingly empty hallway, almost as if he was talking to the framed photos that hung along the otherwise bare walls. Sebastian knew he might as well be talking to them, because this morning he hadn't managed to get a word out of Joseph. He was probably still in his bedroom. He couldn't even have thought to leave the man to fend for himself after all they'd been through together. Joseph might not be a KCPD detective anymore, but he was still his partner. Sebastian would never consider him anything less.

As he walked further down the short hallway, Sebastian could hear the faint sound of people coming from the living room. The television must be on, maybe Sebastian had left the cheap box on before he left this morning, although he didn’t recall turning it on. The door, leading to said room was slightly ajar, pushing it gently Sebastian stepped through only to find Joseph curled up on the old, worn sofa. He was still only wearing the dark shirt and pyjama pants he’d been in since possible the night before. Something Joseph previously wouldn’t even thing to do. Although he was out of his room, that was something at least.

“What you watching, Joseph?” he asked, not really expecting a reply. Joseph might have been looking at the screen, but it didn’t really look like he was watching it. More just staring vacantly at the screen. Stepping behind the small coffee table set between the television set and sofa, Sebastian fitted himself between the seats edge and Joseph’s feet. If it were anyone else, the atmosphere would have been incredibly awkward. However over the last few months, it was a comfortable routine the pair had slowly fallen into. Routine being the safest place for Joseph’s fractured mind. Sebastian’s own too.

“History of criminal profiling,” Joseph mumbled, which startled Sebastian slightly. Joseph’s voice was so quiet, Sebastian almost didn’t hear him speak. Turning his head towards the television, that Joseph was apparently watching, Sebastian listened to the onscreen detectives talk about things that the both of them already knew. Sebastian didn’t find it very interesting, but Joseph seemed to. His subconscious missing the work he used to love so much.

“You eaten today?” Sebastian received a silent nod in reply, which was incredibly reassuring. Even if it was just something simple. Like a sandwich, or even toast with that gross seaweed shit he’d bought, which Joseph loved . He didn’t care. He hated leaving Joseph alone whilst he worked. The aching feeling of something going wrong, however minor, was always there. Plus if Joseph lost any more weight, he’d slip between the seams of the torn sofa cushions. “You been awake long?” he continued.

“I don’t know. How was work?” Joseph didn’t often ask Sebastian questions anymore. But when he did, it wasn’t an answer he was really wanting. He could see the younger man beginning with his gloveless hands, long fingers beginning to tighten around his small wrist. Sebastian wasn’t really sure whether it was appropriate to talk about mutilated women to Joseph. But if he asked, Sebastian wasn’t going to lie to him.

“Remember I told you I was working a new case? Well the chief is up my ass about it because another body has been found and we still don’t have a decent lead to follow. Said if I don’t have something solid soon, we will have a talk. Whatever that means,” Sebastian chose to leave out some of the more gruesome details of the investigation. He struggled enough keeping his own nightmares at bay, he didn’t need to trigger anyone else’s.

 “They don’t even have living relatives.” Sebastian continued, his eyes finding themselves falling in the direction of the kitchen. “Although details on system say the victims were born, worked and lived in the city, no one knows who they are. Believe me, I’m sick of asking to every human in this shit hole of a city. The only evidence we have is their actual bodies, other than that we have nothing. It’s like they’re ghosts, nobody cares that they’re dead and no one ever will. No one except us cops that is.”

“As long as you care, then there’s still one person left to bring them home,” Joseph’s tired voice came as something barley more than a whisper. His quiet fidgeting soon ceased completely as he began turning himself around. His head now laying where his feet once did, exhaling a small sigh as his dark eyes looked up to meet Sebastian’s own. “Even ghosts deserve to go home,” he mumbled again, quietly repositioning himself on the sofa as his eyes fell closed. “You’re good at bringing people home,”

Sebastian wasn’t sure what Joseph was referring to with that last statement. He was a homicide detective, the only people he brought home were in body bags. Sebastian's hand eventually found its way into Joseph's unkempt hair as the pair began to relax into their version of normality. Sebastian's fingers gently stroked the lengthened strands of Joseph's dark hair, listening to the faint sound of the television in the background - the shows end credits well into their sequence now. Sebastian wished this was what live could be for the pair of them. No nightmares that became confused with reality. No hallucinations that then added to the bullet holes that now the bedroom walls. Being able to go to work without the fear of coming home and finding his partner bleeding from his wrists. But that sort of life was foreign to Sebastian now, Joseph too. Nothing in their lives had been anywhere close to that, ever.

So how could they get back something they never had in the first place?

**Author's Note:**

> Seb never did get that coffee. 1 kudo = 1 coffee for Seb ;)
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter of whatever this is. I apologise for my trash xD


End file.
